Saturday, August 10, 2013

Whew, don't much care for urban pilgriming, especially across one of the largest cities in the world, but I arrived a bit after midday today at the Basilica de Guadalupe and got the last stamp in my pilgrim credencial, walking an incredible 13,008 kilometers (= 8,083 miles) across 12 countries in 11 months. Wow. I'm a happy happy pilgrim, but have only a few minutes on the computer at the moment. More later. I'm safe and sound after this 6th great pilgrim walk. ttfn

La Fe Catolica Viva

A wee bit about me...

I love to simply travel, I love to travel simply.
I lived in Europe for the last 8 years and learned enough German and French to be adequately conversant. I picked up a bit of Italian while walking to Rome. Languages certainly help make travel simpler.

I became a pilgrim in October 2007

My name is Ann Sieben. I'm American by birth and global in existance. I was in Spain waiting for a work permit for a project in Bulgaria that never came through. Not wanting to look around for another project at the moment, on a lark, I was inspired to join the growing movement of modern pilgrimages along medieval routes across Europe. I made my way to León, Spain, and then walked 200 miles to Santiago de Compostela through gorgeous countryside during the days and enjoyed the camaraderie of other pilgrims in the special hostels in the evenings. After 11 days of walking, I was hooked.

In December 2007, I began a longer pilgrimage from Canterbury to Rome along the Roman-era Via Francigena route, crossing the Alps in the thick of winter. It was fabulous - the enjoyment of meeting people everyday, relying on their kindness to help me along, the discovery of Europe at 3 miles and hour... history, culture, architecture, gastronomy...I walked from December 16th to March 17 th. I didn't think about blogging about that trip until afterwards - oops, sorry.

After that, I found that there were still many miles in my legs. I chose a route with Aix la Chapelle (aka Aachen, Germany ) as the starting point of another winter pilgrimage. The home-base of Charlemagne, the Father of Europe. During the winter months, I walked through Belgium, France, and Spain to Santiago de Compostela., and then for the fun of it, pushed on a few more days to Finesterre on the coast – ‘the end of the earth’.I was on trail from December 12th to March 4th.

The life of a winter pilgrim suits me just fine.As winter approached, I prepared to walk the next ancient path discovering the world at a comfortable pace, meeting people, experiencing an interesting world in a slightly non-traditional way. Another winter, another walk; I walked from Kyiv, Ukraine to Patras, Greece along the general route of St Andrew in the first century.

A silent pilgrim does the world no good, so I've given talks and spoken to many diverse groups about these pilgrimages. A recurring, slightly cynical, comment was often made - 'sure something like this might be able to be done in Europe, but not in the US...it's not in our culture, no one would open their door to a pilgrim.;

It saddened me to hear this, and I disagreed. To demonstrate that North Americans are just as kind as Europeans, I set out last autumn from my home in Denver, Colorado to Mexico City on yet another historical path. The early Spanish settlers established a Royal Road from Mexico City as far north as Taos, New Mexico, a little over 100 miles south of Denver. What a success!! Americans are just as friendly as Europeans. So are Mexicans.

Just when I thought my pilgrim life was a thing of the past, the Arab Spring allowed inspiration to enter my heart with the possibility to walk across the history of North Africa. While full of trials and tribulations - barred from entering Algeria, prematurely expelled from Libya, and hurried across the Sinai - the fact that the world is really full of good people was underscored with more great success.

o City, this time through South and Central America. Follow along...

Shortly after arrival at the pilgrim destination, I was inspired again by the Empress of the Americas and am compelled to make a long journey again to the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexic